


courage (yuri on ice repeat)

by rayningnight



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, BAMF Yuuri, F/M, Gen, M/M, POV Outsider, Social Media, Time Travel, WIP
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-20 12:20:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13717575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rayningnight/pseuds/rayningnight
Summary: If any were to pinpoint the start, it began with Yuuri Katsuki’s sudden, spectacular fall at the end of his short program at his first GPF in Sochi.Characters will be added as new POVs crop up.





	1. The Sochi Grand Prix Final!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was inspired by Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu during their free skate at the Olympics (yesterday). And other time travel fics littered in this fandom. Stay tuned as I try to locate all my inspirations and whether this fic will take off anywhere.

Yuuri sweeps past him as he holds the door open, his face still unreadable since they left the Kiss and Cry hours ago.

Celestino is worried for his student. Truly worried. He cares for his Yuuri’s wellbeing more than the prestige of getting a student on the podium, and he’ll downgrade the jumps and spins if it’ll keep Yuuri from further injury.

He pockets the hotel keycard as he maneuvers their bags to the side of the beds in their room. Looking up after ensuring all their things were accounted for, he finds Yuuri at the same spot since he entered their room. His student stands at the window, holding a bag of frozen peas to his head, as recommended by the doctor. It was fortunate that, though dazed and still silent even hours after that catastrophe, the doctors believed he was fit to skate tomorrow.

But… just how _well_ did his student _want_ to skate?

It was only because of Celestino that Yuuri had even put on his short program outfit. After that call from his family, Yuuri had been stress eating since news of his dog’s death had reached him. When he found Yuuri crying in their room earlier that afternoon, when he should have been getting ready to leave for the Iceberg Skating Palace, there was little he could do to console the boy. Celestino had been worrying over his two Junior skaters getting to the stadium as well, since they were performing first, and then... and then he found Yuuri, not even packed ready to go…

Celestino sighs and massages his temples as he looks over his charge. Yuuri had placed his buzzing phone away on the desk — likely Phichit, now that Celestino thinks about it — and is still at the window looking over the city, his free hand raised and tracing over his facial features… is he searching for more bruises? A broken nose?

“Hey, coach?” 

Celestino pauses. “Yes?”

“Could I have a refresher on my free skate? Um. I mean, everything’s a bit fuzzy so… Could I — could I see what’s planned?”

Celestino quickly smothers the sudden panic. The doctor said that there may be a few lapses due to the head injury, and yes, Yuuri had been spouting some strange things since he fell, but it wasn’t serious enough to warrant hospitalization. The doctor even told him that a day’s rest would be okay for Yuuri to get back onto the ice. But this—! “A _bit_ of memory loss? Yuuri, you’ve been skating this program since the start of the season, we worked on it all of summer, if you can’t remember then you may as well not even skate—“

Yuuri crushes his bag of peas. “… _Please_ , coach.”

Celestino locks eyes with his student in the reflection of the glass window, surprised at the uncharacteristically steely tone. 

“Well, alright…” Celestino still doesn’t think this is a good idea, though. “Hmm, perhaps we should down-grade the difficulty a bit?” he starts. “The GPF isn’t the _most_ important skating competition, and we could easily move some jumps from the end to—“

“Coach.”

There is an odd tone to Yuuri’s voice, odd only because he’s never heard the young man look and say something so seriously, so sternly, but Celestino puts that out of his mind. Acquiescing, he pulls out one of the copied papers that the judges tomorrow would be looking over as they watch the free skate, and hands it to Yuuri. It contains all components for each performance so that the judges knew what to mark on, and Celestino had printed extra copies, as he always did. While Yuuri flips to his page, Celestino breaks open and slides in a dvd of one of the qualifying programs Yuuri did weeks ago in Toronto. It was a good thing he even brought the replays — he’d wanted to go over some of Yuuri’s past mistakes, since Yuuri had only ever done one flawless public performance.

They both sit down on Celestino’s twin bed, him watching Yuuri watch the screen. The piano notes to _Mariage d’amour_ begins after the announcer on screen speaks; the program music had been his choice, and he didn’t regret it. It’s a famous enough song, a favourite of some since Richard Clayderman had played it some years ago, and so a safe choice they both agreed complimented the _Lohengrin_ short program. Yuuri’s theme of _Joy_ was easily captured in both musical compositions. His student scans the sheet of paper every so often without a single word. It's quiet, and it is so strange, seeing this calm, collected Yuuri analyzing his own performance with a nearly imperceptible frown tugging his lower lip.

Celestino frowns.

What was going on? Was — was Yuuri going to crack? The infamous glass heart of his was known to many, and it wouldn’t be the first time this had happened — though, never towards as … _big_ a competition as the GPF.

Celestino breaks the silence once Yuuri stands up to rewind the video. 

“Yuuri, your health is more important to me than placing the podium—“ _or placing above anyone else_ since, honestly, it was like watching a slow train-wreck ever since the scores showed Yuuri’s short program, more than twenty-points behind the lead, Nikiforov, just a bit lower than Bin and Giacometti. It isn't the _worst_ score in the world, but Yuuri isn't as experienced as Bin or a slow-starter like Giacometti. He adds, quickly, “And it’s not like this is the end of the season! We can still pull through at Nationals, and everyone knows that Worlds is just as, if not _more_ , important. Anyway, it’s your first time at the finals, it’s amazing you made it past the qualifying rounds—“

“I need to up the difficulty.”

It doesn’t process for a moment.

“Excuse me?” Celestino isn’t sure if he heard right.

Yuuri hums, placing the frozen pack to the nightstand and freeing one of those complimentary hotel pens to use as a pointer. “Look at these jumps. I can change this quad toe into a quad sal here, for a little higher base value, and this combination can lead from a triple axel instead since I’ll be facing forward already. Otherwise, I think with this I can get rid of those other wasted moments leading up to jumps — I won’t need it, I can already tell where I can pick up more speed. In fact, maybe change — hmm, no, not much can be done with this part of the step sequence, since I can’t _completely_ surprise everyone, they won’t expect it, the poor caller will be scrambling after me, I’ll be penalized— or wait, have you given them the plans yet—“

“Woah, Yuuri, slow down!”

Yuuri stills.

Trying for a placating tone, Celestino barely manages. “Yuuri, you haven’t yet landed a quad salchow outside of practice — and we included those _wasted moments_ leading to jumps because you _do_ need to accelerate more or else you can’t get enough turns. Using up time to prepare for jumps is fine since you already have a long program, almost a minute longer than some of the others, and I'm still surprised by your stamina. I thought we both agreed on this weeks ago?”

His student shakes his head. “I can skate faster. This is a long program, but I need to add this, here, see—”

“Yuuri!”

His student turns his whole attention to Celestino, but he finds that he can’t speak as his student levels his eyes onto him, eyes so bright and _burning_.

“Coach, what would you do, if you had the chance to redeem yourself?”

Celestino opens his mouth but hesitates. 

Redeem himself?

“I-I mean,” Yuuri sighs, fingering the corner of a sheet. “It doesn’t feel right, if I don’t do my very best. Like I’m cheating out vic— _everyone_. I know I can do better. This is a Grand Prix _Final_. Even if I skate my best with this,” he taps the papers in his hands, “I won’t be putting up much a fight. I won’t even make it above fifth place, considering my short program score. It’d be disrespectful to both the other competitors and fans if I don’t give them the best I have, right? So I need to up my base values, change a few things, or there really is no point for me to compete.”

That… that made sense.

Yuuri had worked so hard to get to this point. Harder than any of his students, even the older ones Celestino once believed would qualify over Yuuri. Yuuri surprised him these days however, coming up with sequences unlike any typically seen, spins that are faster and more beautiful than last season’s, jumps that are higher, faster, cleaner.

It would be such a waste to end on such a sour note, wouldn’t it?

Celestino nods reluctantly. He thinks he understands. And, considering what had happened today: the death, the eating, the falls, the final tumble and head injury — he’s surprised his glass-hearted student hasn’t shattered… and, to be honest, he is all the more proud of it. Yuuri doesn’t look the least bit anxious or weary or as if he’s given up after all that. No, he looks brilliant, more resolved than ever. A diamond in the making, after years of being crushed like coal.

Celestino pauses, looks closely at his student once more, before nodding.

“Alright Yuuri. Which jump passes were you thinking about changing?”

 

* * *

* * *

 

Cao is surprised when he sees the other man in the practice rink.

“Oh, hello!” he says in accented English. He winces as his voice creaks from rusty, morning drowsiness. “I did not know there would be others here this early.” The Mens’ Final would be in the evening, but there was little point to cram training on the day of the competition to practice. Cao personally thinks it doesn’t hurt to review, but he also knows many would rather rest up before the big day.

The Japanese representative may be thinking on the same lines?

Yuuri Katsuki looks up from from his stretches. He smiles. _“Hello,”_ he greets in Mandarin before swapping back to English. His voice is accented as well and curiously Americanized. “I couldn’t sleep after yesterday,” he winces, “and I decided to change a few things up for my program. Coach was alright with me doing it, but he wanted some precious shuteye considering we, ah, went to bed around two.”

Cao nods, inwardly surprised with the freely given information. “I hope you are alright with that fall, yesterday, and I hope you feel better soon.” An empty platitude, as clearly the other man was already better after the hospital visit, but Cao’s mama taught him to be polite.

“Thanks,” Katsuki responds, standing up. His eyes lock onto Cao’s bag. “I see you’re also wanting to skate? Ha… you alright with sharing with the predicted dead-last of this competition?” he laughs wryly.

“I am surprised you are taking the… public opinion so well.” Then the other’s words processes and Cao frowns. “Of course I will share, I do not care. But I will say, I did not expect you to be so… carefree.” Katsuki seemed, from yesterday, a nervous wreck. This man however…

Katsuki shrugs, bending over to lace up his skates. “I’ll give my best, and that’s that. And — wait, you know why I’m here. Why’re you?”

“I did not do as well as expected, yesterday, and that newcomer, Leroy…” Cao sighs. “I need to practice a more and change a few things. I am also used to waking up to this time, as it would be nearly noon time at home.”

“Makes sense,” Katsuki says. “But where’s your coach?”

Cao frowns, fingering the strap of his bag. “We had a disagreement this morning — Coach wanted me to downgrade to three quads and focus on my spins. She says that this may be my last year, so I should be easier on my body.” He isn’t able to hide the frustration lacing his tone.

Katsuki is silent for a moment, but he does not seem to be judging.

“I want to do all five quads originally planned in my program,” Cao confesses. “It is not like they are all different types, I am not crazy like Nikiforov — I doubt I’ll get gold — but I lost against Giacometti’s program in Skate America even when he touched down on his axel while I skated a flawless program. And then Leroy… he did exceptionally well in his short program, all his jumps… and I… I just…”

Katsuki nods, “And you want to leave this competition with a medal, with the idea that you were competition for gold.”

Finally, someone understands. Cao gestures at himself. “I am not the oldest competitor, but that is only by technicality. Nikiforov may be hounded by the press all the time about his retirement, but that is only because they _want_ him to stay. I — I on the other hand…” No one had asked him, because they all believed it inevitable. There were many skaters in his home country vying for China’s exclusive spots on the international field, many who wanted him gone since he hadn’t medalled in the last four years _._ It has been disappointing for everyone involved.

“But, I …kinda agree with your coach.”

“Pardon?” 

Cao had thought he found a kindred spirit!

“I mean, yes, you could do the same components, but when I was watching over some tapes of my competition — when I saw _your_ programs — you’ve got to notice that your PCS is always the highest out of all the scores.”

Cao’s face burns. “If you are going to just insult me—“

“No! No!” Katsuki quickly waves his hands around frantically. “No, I was the same. Am the same, I mean, I'm worse since my performance score practically lugs the weight from my technical. It's why I’ll be upping the jumps I have planned! But — it’s not just the jumps you’ve got to focus on, you know. If you’re already great at your PCS, then why not make it even _better_ than before? Why focus on nailing five quads — which, by the way, just ups the chances of falling and _hurting yourself really, really badly_ because you’re only practicing this now. Just stick with your three, _nail those three_ consistently, and up the levels and refine your artistic elements that _you’re known for_ — and _then_ focus on jumps, maybe swap up one of your jump passes, _if_ you’ve got the time.” 

“…Oh.” Cao tilts his head to the side. That… makes sense, actually. Coach had wanted him to not only work on his spins but upgrade his step sequences to at least a level four, but…

“You really should stop comparing yourself to Victor. He’s known for his jumps, but you know what I heard from one of the judges one time? He doesn’t capture the musicality as well as we do.”

Katsuki gives him a wink. It doesn’t look nearly as awkward as Cao expected it would, from the typically reticent Japanese skater. “But you didn’t hear that from me. I’m not your coach or anything, but you know my thoughts now. I’ll see you on the rink later!” 

That was the longest — actually, this whole conversation has been the longest he’s ever spoken with Katsuki. The other usually never interacted with the competing skaters in previous competitions, Grand Prix series or not, and now Cao wonders why, if he seems this agreeable and easy to get along with.

Looking through the glass window, he sees Katsuki take off his blade guards and immediately practice a complex step sequence that has his blades always just missing the leather of the other foot. It vaguely reminds him of C-pop breakdancing, funnily enough. Cao frowns as he watches this man, who has taken his low scores from yesterday and reforged himself, who has pushed higher but not without consideration of his own proficiencies.

Shifting his gaze towards his own skates, he ponders.

 

* * *

* * *

 

Yuri rolls his eyes and stuffs one hand in his jacket pocket. “What does it matter? I got gold,” he lifts his medal with his free hand, as if Yakov is blind.

“Having high technical scores will do nothing for you if you cannot interpret your own program!” Yakov tries to lower his tone, but he can’t understand this boy. “You had no passion, no _emotion_ — well, you were aggressive and _angry_ , but that's not even your theme — and those twizzles weren’t clean, you looked like you were tripping to just get those elements done, and your other step sequences were an afterthought — we may as well string up a marionette to skate in your stead if you’re more comfortable in the air than on the ice!”

Yuri nods but Yakov can tell his words are falling on deaf ears. The best of the Juniors, head as large as Victor’s had been at this age — but with none of the obedience. Honestly, these boys. Yakov is fortunate that Victor has only gotten rebellious in his twenties, trying every new thing and sticking his hands and bladed feet into outrageous ideas, _after_ he’s already established a solid, trained foundation.

Yuri, on the other hand, looks up to Victor and rarely listens to a word of Yakov’s advice in building more artistry — ignoring his _coaching_ , as if the boy’s family isn’t _paying_ for his services — and keeps upping his technical ability, his jumps and sometimes his spins, but caring little for his transitions and any performance scores in between. For any other skater, perhaps this would have been fine, but Yuri was still growing. His attention should be swapped, or his body will never adjust with his “genius” and he won’t be able to compete by the time he turns twenty.

Yakov refuses to sigh, to show weakness. Brusquely, he changes the topic. “Where is Vitya—“

“Yes, Yakov?” a voice sing-songs behind him before he feels a heavy weight drape himself over his shoulders.

“Victor…” he starts with a growl.

His brazen student picks himself off. “Ah, alright, alright! Oh!” Victor exclaims, “They’re opening the rink!”

Yakov turns just as Victor sweeps past for the warm-up practice. He eyes the other Mens’ Singles competition, Christophe Giacometti greeting Victor with a wave, Cao Bin just stepping onto the ice, Michele Crispino and Yuuri Katsuki speaking to each other as they skate to towards where Jean-Jacques Leroy is currently beaming and waving at the crowd at the middle of the rink.

Yakov hums under his breath as the speakers introduce the skaters to the audience, and to his side Yuri is already plugged into his screaming music player, so he doesn’t bother to tell the boy to watch the seniors practice. Two of the finalists were GPF newcomers, the upstart Leroy having just debuted, and Katsuki, experienced, but always just missing the cut until this season. Yakov sighs. Another year without a strong opposition for Vitya. Sure, Giacometti gave a good shot, but with yesterday’s short program, he’s not going to shove Victor off the podium anytime soon, especially since Victor had decided to throw in that inhuman quad lutz at the beginning and a quad toe near the end of the program back in September. 

Yakov scowled.

He wished there was someone who could challenge his students — somebody who could light the fire into the sport once more — instead of Victor trying to one-up himself every season — every _competition_.

Yakov turns his attention to his so-called _greatest_ student, who was chatting with Giacometti. Victor now breaks away and catches many of the audience’s attention as he practices his quads, _the show-off_. Yakov shakes his head. Victor looks listless under that mask of cheerfulness, and Yakov wonders if he’s the only one who realizes how lonely a pedestal Victor has placed himself on, wonders if the boy even enjoys this sport after years plateaued at a slanted peak, moving higher and doing better than anyone before.

He looks to Yuri. If he can get the boy to take his advice, to stop focussing on his checklist of jumps and work on what needs to be worked on, perhaps Victor would get a rival out of Yuri before he retires. Yakov suspects Victor will push for retirement again at the end of this season, but he swears, Victor should hold on just a little longer. This sport needs the boy, this _icon_ , and if he has to force Victor to wait just _one_ more season, _one_ more competition—

What was that?

Yakov turns back towards the rink, noticing how many are still focussed on Victor, except for two other competitors and him. Bin stares from were he is gliding on the side, and Giacometti pauses from just stepping out of a layback.

Katsuki is known as the ace of Japan, known in the skating community as the master of step sequences and artistic spins and little else — and up close, Yakov agrees, mesmerized. _He’s_ already coached the world’s best, but that boy is all grace and smooth lines today. Yesterday didn’t show off the Japanese’s skill, clearly. This level four straight line step sequence has good energy, control and speed, a precision to the step that strikes a chord within him. It is as effortless and quick-paced as a _danseur_ on stage, rather than a skater. In fact… as the boy’s blades carve in and out, fast and intricate, Yakov would venture it’s even better than yesterday’s short program steps, which were the only highlight of yesterday’s _Lohengrin_. His thoughts stray towards Lilia, how she would have cooed at the swan on ice.

And then he leaps into a quad toe, one arm raised in _Tano_ position, and Yakov knows from his exposure to his ex-wife that the Japanese boy must have started out as a ballet dancer with that uniform leg raised.

Hmm.

After years of never reaching the podium in any international competition, he hadn’t paid too much attention to a boy that clearly wouldn’t be worth much against Victor. Katsuki was more competition for Georgi, jumping in and out of the top ten in the world. His thoughts had been proven right, yesterday, with that memorable fall at the end of a mediocre short program. Not to say _Lohengrin_ was bad, but with the falls at every other jump, it broke rhythm, and it was barely a candle to the rest of the world’s best. Katsuki’s short program scores hadn’t even hit the 90s. Eighty-something-or-other. Thinking back, Yakov can’t for the life of him remember the Japanese boy’s debut year. 2006? 2008? The boy looks young and Yakov knows Katsuki is somewhere in his early twenties.

Soon, the boy returns to doing simpler jumps, then a triple axel once and a serpentine step sequence and so on, blending in with the rest of the elite competition as Victor continues to enrapture everyone else.

Hmm.

The announcers call off the practice time, and soon the stadium is abuzz with anticipation. It’s their home country, so most of the spectators are there for Victor, as Yakov confirms with the numerous blue rose bouquets. He spots an Asian family clutching a poodle doll even, as he stops Victor from following Yuri into the skaters’ lounge area.

“You should watch your competition.” He says.

Yuri pauses at the curtain, finally unplugged apparently as he intercepts with a sneer. “Why bother? First up’s the Japanese, and Katsuki’s only redeeming point is his footwork, _maybe_ his spins.”

Victor hums. “Well, other than Bin, the others aren’t watching it live either…” He seems to brighten. “Wait, Yura, you’ve watched Katsuki enough to know his style?”

Yuri scowls. “No, I was just there to watch him squeak into the finals. He was Georgi’s competition in Skate Canada.”

“Ah, but you’ve analyzed him enough—“

“Shut it, Victor, I was just there ‘cause it was convenient!” Yuri storms off in a huff. “I’m going to the mens'!”

Victor sighs dramatically, “I’ll go make sure he comes back,” and follows the boy out of the rink.

Yakov scowls, “You’re going to miss Katsuki’s program if you’re leaving now!”

Victor waves with his back turned, mockingly. “I’ll catch the replay if he’s good! I need to stretch first!” He winks over his shoulder and singsongs, “I’ll be back s _oo_ n, don’t worry!”

Yakov knows an excuse when he hears one, so he grudgingly turns his attention away with a huff. He wonders if Victor was going to take a nap or something, since it’d happened twice before. Yakov sighs, and looks back up to find that he is just close enough to see Katsuki lean into his coach for a hug with a barely-there whispered conversation. It ends with Celestino pointedly saying, more loud than his student, “Just do your best, Yuuri! If you think you can do it, then do it. I believe in you.”

Yuuri says something back, and Celestino grins, and claps his student on the back.

The Japanese skater removes his signature jacket to Celestino. His program outfit is bluish-purple, with clear icy-blue lapels and a white turtle-neck underneath that was emblazoned with an interesting dark-hued design. From the side, it looks outlandish, but he vaguely recalls an interview where Celestino had explained it was supposed to be a ‘like modern twist to the classic programs he’ll be skating to’, or some nonsense like that, to explain the plastic lapels and the wrist-ruffles.

Honestly, Yakov would never subject his students to wear ruffles on _anything_. Ugh.

“Eh? What do you mean?”

“He is going to do well, nothing else. You should watch.”

Yakov turns to the new voices, the first from the Italian skater and the latter from Bin. The Chinese skater seemed to have dragged out Crispino from the lounge area to watch Katsuki’s free program.

“He’s going to do well? How do you know?”

“I was practicing with him this morning. He will be exceptional.”

Crispino frowns. “You’ve got a lot of faith in your competition.”

“I have faith in my new _friend,”_ the Chinese skater retorts, which Yakov finds interesting. Katsuki, a new friend? “I thought at least one other competitor should see the birth of a new star.”

 **“First is Yuuri Katsuki, 23, representing Japan."** the loudspeakers suddenly turns on above.

The stadium cheers, and Yakov tunes into the Russian commentators' channel on his phone. He connects, and plugs one earphone in just as he hears, **"...after yesterday’s nasty fall, he’s back in the game, in his first Grand Prix Final, everyone!”** Although a bit distracting, the commentators sometimes provided useful enough information along with their idle gossip, so Yakov likes to listen along than simply watch the competitors skate.

Turning his attention back, Yakov just catches Katsuki waving at the crowd with much less awkward nervousness than yesterday, and moves to take off his blade guards to hand to his coach. Skating off and getting the feel of the rink, the commentators gush over Katsuki as he moves into position, head lowered.

**“… representing Japan! Yuuri Katsuki will now skate to the composition[Mariage d’amour](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ej1SI4BRv8)!”**

As the first piano notes echo throughout the quieting stadium, Katsuki brings his hands up from his side to his cheek, and the facial emotion captures Yakov’s attention. Soon, a fragile melody accompanies the low notes and Katsuki sweeps away into delicate footwork. It is quick-paced, intricate and light, a rhythmic dance that would look more in place with feet clad in satin, not with sharp-edged blades— Yakov jumps off that train of thought, shaking his head. At the next lull, Katsuki kicks himself into quicker speed and accelerates before the melody repeats.

 **“Great height on that quadruple toe!”** The crowd cheers and claps as Katsuki lands his first jump.

His body seems to create the music than follow it, with every arc and curl of his arms and fingers, mimicking the play of the piano. As Katsuki transitions from position to position, gaining more and more speed, his countenance is nothing but the embodiment of quiet joy, happiness suddenly on the verge of overflowing. Yakov didn’t know the boy could act so well, express the emotion so completely, and he finds himself immersed in the performance. As the notes lull once more, the skater bends whilst he crosses his leg over the other, the skate’s blade switching to the outside edge, folds his knee even further—

 **“Here Katsuki gears up for a loop—”** the commenters start.

—and the boy strikes the ice with his right toe at the new high note—

**“A-Amazing! Katsuki has upgraded his triple loop to a _quad_ …”**

Katsuki spreads his arms out, like a bird coming back from flight, before his movements turn _quick_. Katsuki dances across the stage of ice effortlessly, gracefully, radiant with joy. The quiet, small smile he started out with now gains teeth and soon lifts his cheeks, so wide as if he no longer could hold it back. It’s contagious, and Yakov sees many in the audience smiling in response.

Yakov pauses, realizing the radio has gone silent. 

So, even the commentary are currently too astounded to say a word.

The boy gains speed once again, doing three quick turns right before a lull, and then he swings his left leg back and then he’s up — _onetwothreefour—_ and down on the beat, solid with arms out with a flair. He could have had wings strapped to his back, with the height he just landed from. The quad salchow was clean, not flawless — Yakov noticed the slight correction on the running edge — but nothing like the one from his SP. The movements afterward are not strained, and neither is Katsuki’s expression. His swift legwork soon sweeps him close enough to Yakov that he can see the boy’s face for a moment, eyes crinkled and on the cusp of laughter. The quickening melody follows him into his transitions, and Katsuki leaps into a flying reverse sit spin, a pancake spin, and then grabs his blade for an incredibly flexible catch-foot layback spin before he steps out of inertia and kicks off into more intricate footwork, right on the beat of the following lull.

The song crests like a wave into the second portion of the program, up and down the piano keys, and Katsuki uses it to sweep back and forth to gain momentum before he transitions to skating backward on his left foot, bends down and jumps in tune with the notes. Yakov makes sure to count the rotations on the lutz, _onetwothree—_ and then Katsuki digs his toe to skip right back up, _onetwo_ — and with his legs still crossed he leaps up again, _onetwothree—_ tight, _very tight_ but somehow managed without catching an edge— and finishes with fists pumping, teeth showing in his smile as he leaps off. The piano follows the boy into his next transition and the crowd is mesmerized as Yakov sees the familiar footwork from practice, quick and sure, so close to cutting the leather of his skates.

Like summertime waves, afternoon sun, there is unfettered joy in each step across the stage; Yakov is not the type for flowery showmanship, but he can appreciate a beautifully crafted program as any professional could. Streamlined and tweaked to maximize Katsuki’s bestselling footwork and performance skills, but incorporating his sudden courage in jumps it seems, Yakov wonders how and why Celestino did not start off with all these small changes from the preliminaries that make such a — a _masterpiece._

The music transitions back to groovy tones, a swinging off-beat and sluggish again, and Katsuki uses this time to make graceful sweeps to accelerate, quicker, faster, swifter, turning backwards — why does he need such momentum when he’s skating _backwards_ — oh, his one foot is _lifting_ —

**“A q-quadruple lutz!”**

So, while Yakov is speechless, the Russian commentators are exclaiming. Katsuki looks as if he’s just laughed, his eyes squeezed shut for a brief, silent moment in the music, and Yakov holds himself from gaping, because he is in _public, damn it_. But he has no time to analyze his own thoughts about that as the boy twists back into the song, a small twizzle before he rocks edge to edge for speed until he has his back facing forward, sneaks a look over his shoulder and while gliding over into one-foot and _leaps_ — 

**“A triple axel— oh, into triple-flip duo! Beautifully executed!”**

The music repeats and repeats, almost waltzing now, and Katsuki takes the chance to do a wave-like pattern on his spread eagle, moving from inside edge to outside edge and back until the music follows him into delicate footwork, quick-paced, and matching each note. Yakov cannot help but think of birds and sprites and all those fairytales from his childhood as he sees this boy move across the ice, gaining speed and still extremely cheerful that tapers off into serene joy at the right moments.

Katsuki has near perfect timing. Circling around the rink with his leg raised slightly, Katsuki quickly lowers and changes glides with the notes, skating tighter until he’s in position. As he sways once, twice, a third time, the song repeating in the background, he then swings his leg out and picks himself up— _onetwothreefour—_ and he seems to perk up as he slams his toe down again— _onetwothree—_ and though that grin presents a pleased sort of joy like that of a cat, Yakov can tell the boy has surprised even himself. That 4S + 3T combo was steady and clean, the salchow even better than the wobblier one performed earlier.

This boy is _stamina monster._ How is he not tired — a quad near the end of his program? A quad in a _combination?_

The music is slowing and becoming more dream-like, and Katsuki uses that to his advantage, swaying and swinging for momentum, backwards, one arm-raised along as he leaps—

**“And a lone triple axel to finish off!”**

He employed the _Tano_ position to begin and finish the program jumps. Yakov dislikes how some competitors use the raised arms for bonuses — but this, no, this is tasteful, _purposeful_ , for the betterment of the program and not just for points, sturdy and powerful like Boitano and not a limping tack-on. As the boy carries the piano with him, fingers tapping the air in time and arms arcing every so often, he can almost taste how people do not want this to end just yet. 

But Katsuki glides into a final tight camel spin, tapering off into an I-spin and, once he slows himself down with his toe-pick scratching the ice, his arms raised up, smiling heavenward, the piano tinkles into silence.

Silence that soon becomes a deafening roar.

As the audience cheers, throwing down a few bouquets and stuffed cat dolls and all that nonsense onto the ice, Yakov notices a giant poodle plushie that looks remarkably like Vitya’s dog sailing out of the stands. 

Did — Did Katsuki just steal one of his student’s fans?

Yakov shakes away from the ridiculous, irrelevant thought and goes over the program he just witnessed, absently taking off his headphones as he hears the commentators buzz with excitement. In past competitions — honestly, just _yesterday_ — the boy hadn’t been able to land that quad sal, and now, he’s thrown in a quad lutz into his roster? _In the second portion of his FS?_ Victor had only just added that jump to his own arsenal this season, and Yakov had even told him to take it down since it was a gamble and no other competitor would be able to beat him anyway, so why risk it?

It seems Yakov has been proven wrong.

Nearly all of Katsuki’s jump elements had quads — the only ones missing was the flip and axel, the former being Vitya’s signature and the latter an inhuman impossibility. (Though it wasn’t too long ago that simply _two_ quads had been superhuman, the quad lutz on par with the quad axel — until Vitya, and Katsuki _today_ …) 

Still, Katsuki had completed a performance of a lifetime, with four types of quads, something only one other competitor has done ever before internationally. Not only that, even though Yakov isn’t the the type to understand programs down to their core stories — even _he_ could see there was something to that program, almost a plot. Joy was the main component, but Yakov had seen different _types_ of joy from almost everything: heartwarming family, cheerful friendship, fun rivalry, passionate love— all stemmed from a single lonely man at first, who only then noticed all those who care are now around him or were always around him.

Yakov honestly doesn’t know how he feels: honoured to have seen this in person, or distressed for his own student.

It seems his own wish from today has come back to bite him.

…Should he be grateful?

Suddenly he hears from the speakers in the stadium: **“The score, please.”**  

Yakov realizes that the ice has been cleared while he’d been in his head, and that Katsuki and Celestino are now seated at the kiss and cry. Settling back, he takes note of the audience. The stadium is mostly silent, with a few low murmurs in the background. The record was going to be astronomically high, Yakov knows, calculating all the technical points he witnessed—

**“…he has earned 226.60.”**

He isn’t grateful.

Yakov turns from the screeching audience to the Japanese skater who has broken Victor’s old records. The boy looks dazed, as if he couldn’t believe everything happening, and then he grins as bright as he did in his free skate and cheers, waving at the crowd and camera and then hugging a very proud Celestino Cialdini. From the sidelines, he sees that the rest of the mens’ figure skaters are out, gaping in shock or murmuring with their coaches.

“He broke three-hundred.”

Yakov turns and finds Yura by his side, eyes wider than he’s seen before. It makes him look innocent, smoothing out the scowling lines. He wonders briefly to himself when he got there. It is a bit strange to realize it, but without Yuri shouting all the time, when he keeps his mouth shut — he’s quiet. Silent, since he moves as any skater does, purposeful and without sound.

“Yes,” He turns to see Victor also by him. Also silent. Also _amazed_ beneath both their exteriors. (He knows his students, and they are amazed more than any other emotion.) “Combined with his short program, he has a total score of 310.15. He broke three-hundred with a mediocre short program. He’s in the lead.” Victor’s voice is so quiet, a murmur, and to Yakov, it sounds almost like a prayer.

“Well, shitty old man, he’s the _only_ skater to have gone, so of course he’s in the lead—“

“He broke _three-hundred._ When his short hadn’t even _hit_ close to a hundred. _”_

Victor suddenly grins, and there is a fire in his eyes that Yakov hasn’t seen in a long time. Yakov turns away and sees Katsuki make his way over. As the other competitors welcome back Katsuki, they all stand a little off, everyone still too stunned to do anything, but he _knows his student_ and quickly grabs the boy at the back of his coat before Vitya does something _unbecoming_.

 _“After you skate, Vitya,”_ he hisses, “then you can do whatever you want. But you do not take this lying down, I want you to give your all out on the ice; _beat that record because I know you can.”_

Victor does.

Well, he sort of does.

Despite knowing the score they had to beat, there was very little anyone could do to change their programs that hadn’t already been changed to make the choreography better without practice. Yuri insisted that Victor should have moved his quad lutz to the second half of his song, but there was a _reason_ he hadn’t — Vitya is old. He hasn’t practiced the lutz enough to land while he is exhausted from two-minutes of high-performance jumps, spins, and transitions.

But...

221.12.

Victor’s total score is 335.76 in the end, blowing out the rest of the competition with over 30 points in the lead, taking back the overall world record — but Katsuki has swept the Free Skate world record by 5 points. From yesterday, everyone knows something had happened the morning of the short program. Mental fortitude is just as important as skating ability in competition. But Katsuki’s freakout before the short program was an anomaly. Yakov suspected more than nerves or anxiety, perhaps the pressure of being on the same ice as the four-time World Champions in gold and silver, bronzes scattered with the rest of the experienced skaters. The boy hadn’t looked good at all. The boy hadn't looked like any real competition.

But after today… What could have happened _if only_ …

Those thoughts are pointless, however. Victor still got gold. Victor is still the overall best. But Yakov can’t help but look at the boy now and can’t help but wonder. Everyone will be looking at the boy with curiosity, puzzlement, asking why- what- _how-_  this late bloomer — one who has already entered late in age, advancing so slowly — just how? This boy, who everyone thought they already saw and knew of, _especially_ since yesterday. 

Katsuki has bounced back from whatever happened with _magnificence._

And Yakov wants to know what this boy has in store for the world of figure skating.

 

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**Ice_Ice_Babe**

_wtf just HAPPENED???? that jap skater just MADE UP ALL HIS POINTS IN THE FS?? his fs score is literally more than the sum of both ss and fs scores for most qualifying competitions???_

_WTF MAN_

 

**Katsukimori**

_I knew he had it in him! YUURI REDEEMS HIMSELF_

 

**KINGJJrulez**

_JJ did so well! Fourth on his first senior competition, and in the final!_

 

**MissNikkiforov**

_Vitya did it again! 5 TIME GPF CHAMPION~!_

 

**goslow001**

_how many golds does Niki have???_

 

**MissNikkiforov**

_LOL honey he’s gotten all the gold in every single competition he’s entered since he won the 2010 Olympics Figure Skating Mens’ but his streak really began in 2007 since he’s defended all his international competition titles since then._

 

**anonymouse**

_holy guacamole_

 

**Katsukimori**

_but guys guys guys CAN WE TALK ABOUT YUURI’S FS AND HOW AMAZING THAT WAS_

 

**goslow001**

_Victor still won tho_

 

**Ice_Ice_Babe**

_yeah but IMAGINE that short program being as good as his fs like he woulda pwned Nikiforov_

 

**datasscheek**

_Can we have some love for Chris? Intoxicated here~ *heart eyes emoji* *drooling emoji*_

 

**Ice_Ice_Babe**

_um hello people, why aren’t yall talking about Yuuri Katsuki who literally scrapped his mega low-score short program and got a medal by breaking a world fucking record with his free skate? like, kudos to him man._

 

**Katsukimori**

_Hey @Ice_Ice_Babe! Try_ **ykatsuki-fc** _or_ **eureka_tsuki** _._ _The first is more organized but the second is usually more responsive. Newer fans are super welcome in both though since there's been so many new tsukis since Yuuri's free skate. Anyway, you can actually appreciate what happened there instead of screaming into the void!_

 

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### Top stories

Yuri Katsuki Redeems His GPF and Makes Skating History      

TIME · 15 hours ago

 

Yuri Katsuki redeems himself at GPF with five quads, Victor Nikiforov wins gold  

CBSSports.com · 15 hours ago

 

Japan Figure Skater Yūri Katsuki Redeems Himself With Record-Setting Skate

HuffPost · 16 hours ago 

 

          >  _More for yuuri katsuki gpf_

 

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Search: yuri katsuki 

 

 **Kenjirou Minami** ✓ @minami-k · 17h  
あなたは私のヒーローです！勝生くんの演技感動した！きれいやったね〜 #勝生勇利 # **YuriKatsuki** #YuuriKatsuki #eurekatsuki

 

 **Eugene**  ✓ @EugeneLY · 17h  
**Yuri Katsuki** , 23, lands a historic five quads in his men's free skate program at his first Grand Prix Final as the skating world cheers. Me, 27, alone, finds six frozen dumplings in freezer, attempts to cook them, burns them, still decides to eat them in underwear. Asians are diverse. 

[a picture of dumplings on a plate on a table in front of a laptop, the screen showing a blurred shot of Yuri Katsuki skating]

 

 **fluffball** @fluffball1868 · 17h  
they're such cuties #VictorNikiforov #ChristopheGiacommeti # **YuriKatsuki** #selfie

[a screen shot of the three GPF medalists right before the podium ceremony. Christophe Giacommeti angles his phone out to the left to take a selfie with Victor Nikiforov behind him striking a pose and Yuuri Katsuki leaning over with his chin propped on his palm, all smiling]

 

 **Luna | Ace Skater Yuri Katsuki**  @eureCatsuki101 · 17h  
This is my aesthetic # **yurikatsuki** #eurekatsuki #tsukikat #japanace

[a screen shot of Yuuri Katsuki crouched low, leg stretched out, likely mid-spin in his FS program]

 

 **Katsukitty**  @no1eurestan · 17h  
Cats fall but land on their feet! Same goes with #eureCatsuki! # **YuriKatsuki** #tsukicat #nekohasCLAWStoday #noneedtoprotect #thesmolcatisOK

[a side-by-side screen shot of Yuuri Katsuki mid-leap, leaning too far in the jump in his Short Skate program with a stressed face and Yuuri Katsuki with one leg raised after he lands in his Free Skate program with a serene face]

 

 **Moondancer009** @luna009 · 17h  
Come rewatch with other #moondancers at [link to a replay of Yuri Katsuki's free skate, commentated by Americans] # **yurikatsuki** #moondancer #tsukidancer # tsukikat #publictoo

 

 **just another yuuri stan**  @KaitoMoon · 17h  
_Replying to_ @luna009   
sweet thanks #tsukikats # **yurikatsuki** #eurekatsuki

 

 **sk8tinglife**  @boardandblades · 17h  
_Replying to_ @KaitoMoon  
@istand4Yuuri @luna009 @tripledeckercake why're there so many different tags for all you tsukis. it's kinda confusing to those just getting to know **#yurikatsuki**  

 

 **just another yuuri stan**  @KaitoMoon · 17h  
_Replying to_ @boardandblades   
haha not our fault. both #moondancers and #tsukikats were in the corners of the internet and both sides didn't have much presence until now - we're still not sure which # **yurikatsuki** fanclub popped up first XD

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[a picture of a group of possible college students surrounded by spilled drink and popcorn, some with their mouths open, some with their arms in the air, all facing a television with Yuri Katsuki at his ending pose from his program in the Sochi GPF Free Skate ]

 **phichit+chu**  Yesterday's reactions to the finish of Free Skate World Record Holder @katsuki-y. #amazingness #bestroomie #detroitskatesquad #katsukiyuri #yurikatsuki · more

 _load more comments_

 **IceCastleHasetsu** *CLAPPING EMOJI*

 **+guanghongji+**  He was very amazing!

 **moon.danseur**  SAAAAME

 

[a photo of an empty rink, taken from off the ice where the gate into the rink is. A small brown dog is visible by the door to the ice, tongue lolling out the left of its mouth, one ear raised as it stares towards the open door to ice.]

 **IceCastleHasetsu**  From the first week you left @katsuki-y. #icecastlehasetsu #vicchan #throwbackthursday #whydidyoumakemedothis

 _load more comments_

 **katsuki-y ❤️**

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**Ice_Ice_Babe**

_…Thanks @Katsukimori. I didn’t even know wtf a tsuki was until today and I think I’m joining the ranks XD_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagine the Lohengrin program to be the Prelude to Act I since that’s the only one that has a short enough time length to fit into skating regulations. Check it out here! Also, Yuuri’s official score for his Sochi GPF is 232.59 - which, unlike what Yuuri spouts in canon, is not that bad when placed against the world. Sure, he must’ve fallen a hella lot, but in order to get over 200, he’d have needed a SS score in the 70s or 80s and a FS score in the 160s or 170s (or if there was an extreme, where he did well in the short, like in the 100s, then he’d have needed a free skate score of at least 130 - assuming Victor’s short program score wasn’t broken and somewhere around Yuzuru Hanyu’s of 112.72 - to get that free program score.) Yuuri also couldn’t have gotten less than 70 in his short because then he would have ‘redeemed’ himself in canon since a FS score around 180s is fucking amazing. Like it’s within the top ten best free skate scores of today kind of amazing.


	2. Interview with Morooka!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hisashi is thirsty for an interview. Kenjirou is star struck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A wild Morooka appears! Also, Minami POV, because the Yurio POV I originally planned ended up sounding too much like a fanboy and OOOOH WAIT- so yeah. You get Minami. Sorry @roseanne and @InsanelyYours96, you'll have to wait a bit longer. Also, @Hellopond, I have no idea if Yuuri will be here. Maybe? Hopefully? (And shoutout to @Meicchin for the meta because I absolutely agree about what's implied about Yuuri's SS and FS, looking back. Oops. Well, thanks for sticking with me anyway.)
> 
> And to the rest: thank you all for your lovely comments! I would love to answer you all, but I don’t want to inflate how many comments I have and accidentally give away spoilers. I’m completely blown away that you all enjoyed it as much as I did in writing it, and I hope this chapter doesn’t disappoint (it's short and I don't have as much inspiration anymore oh noooooo). Also, I was going to update this earlier, but I got swept up in watching the PyeongChang Olympics and couldn’t stop. Heck, I watched the gala too — and the gala practices omg pls tell me yall have watched even the first one because YUZURU HANYU IS ADORABLE LIKE AHHH—
> 
> Also by the way, this chapter coincidentally has press just like the Live Press Conference that Yuzuru had today like _just half an hour ago_ \- loool sorry guys, this chapter just kept being pushed back because of my obsession with RL figure skating lately.
> 
> Ahem. Well. On with this. Sorry for clogging up your reading time if you're skipping this author's note. Haha...

“I’ll be honest, I think this is a dream. Like, none of this is real, that I’m in a coma or dead and I’m just… living a dream.”

The blonde reporter giggles, “Well, it’s certainly amazing isn’t it? I’m sure everyone has wanted to feel as great as you did when you saw that score — heck, even on that ice! You looked so happy after every jump and other element was done, as we saw on the replays — a personal best, a silver medal, a world record-breaking skate — what were your thoughts in there? Can you tell us about your performance?” She stabs the mic forward.

Katsuki-kun laughs and fiddles with the zipper of his coat. “To be honest, I was just …surprised I could do …everything? I planned it all out, and I practiced parts of it, but when I was out there it was like a whole new experience. I never realized how strong or flexible I could be. I’m … really surprised I didn’t fall flat on my face since I was in a whole new body on that ice. I-I mean, it felt like I was possessed? Or — I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore, sorry.” He buries his face into his hands.

“Is it true that you choreographed this free skate?” the reporter ignores the gesture and quickly fires the question once Katsuki-kun rises out of his faceplant.

“Oh, no, no! Of course not!” A flush creeps over his neck to his cheeks.

“Are you sure? Can you comment on why your skate today was so different than in the qualifiers at Skate Canada or the NHK Trophy?”

“Well, of course I’m sure I didn’t _make_ a record breaking skate. I uh… I deviated from what I originally planned and my choreographer wasn’t very happy with that at the start, but we called him over — my coach and I did, I mean, the night after my short program, ha ha… he wasn’t happy but — and well — we took my program and tweaked it, and I knew I didn’t show what I could do on that ice and I really wanted to show that? And… and the judges were fine with the plan as we handed it in and well, everyone’s sort of happy that my changes paid off? But just because I swapped up a few step sequences and upped some jumps doesn’t mean I didn’t skate what I meant to. It wasn’t _that_ different?”

Hisashi begs to differ. All the other figure skating commentators were able to see all the skaters’ plans beforehand, in order to properly comment about it on live television, and everyone was surprised at the revised plan for Katsuki Yuuri. Not to mention, the plan hadn’t even been the entire package — no one had any idea about Katsuki-kun being able to land a quadruple loop or lutz, let alone replacing the triple loops and lutz with quads in a high-stakes international competition. There was no _mention_ of it anywhere either, that Katsuki-kun had been training it in Detroit, and Hisashi has been following this boy for _years._ He knows all the rumours and fansites and hell, even the tumblr meta — how could he have missed this?

“Well, you were just amazing on the ice there, Mr. Katsuki. Thank you for your time and good luck on the rest of the season!” finally the reporter cuts away and shifts her attention to the two other medalist skaters coming in from the back. Reporters around him light up like trainers catching sight of the main character in a Pokemon game and rush towards them. Skaters are lucky that there’s a half-height gate to block off everyone without the blue lanyard and proper identification so that they could easily move to and from rinkside and not get mobbed.

While the blonde begins rapid-firing at Christophe Giacommetti about his lost GPF silver streak, since the gold medalist Victor Nikiforov is already swarmed on all sides by paparazzi lying in wait, Hisashi runs after the horde running after Katsuki-kun retreating back. 

Hisashi is typically the only one to recognize Katsuki-kun, since the skater always disguises himself to hide away from the press or pretend he can’t see them with his Clark Kent-esque glasses. 

That blonde reporter though _somehow_ caught Katsuki-kun before he could change out of his costume and warm-up jacket  _and_ wrangled more than a few stilted sentences from him. Today’s been a day just filled with miracles.

“Katsuki-kun!” he starts speaking in Japanese while briskly waving at Haruto, his trusty and wonderful cameraman, to follow him quickly. “Please, wait!”

“Morooka-san?” Japan’s Ace stops hurrying off, blinking at the onslaught of camera flashes. Other reporters are already firing off questions after one another, because while not as persistent as the ones roaring behind Hisashi at Nikiforov, everyone is hungry for a story, especially with the underdog silver medalist.

“Please!” says Katsuki-kun. It isn’t quite a cry, but it is louder, more authoritative than normal. He steps around the gates between him and the surprised reporters towards Hisashi.

“Hello, Morooka-san,” he greets. Hisashi wonders if he’s just imagining the sparkles surrounding that smile but— _oh_. Wait. Katsuki-kun is talking. “—and thank you for always coming to my competitions.”

“Thank you, Katsuki-kun!” Hisashi responds with a smile of a his own and a thumbs up, even if he has no idea what exactly Katuski-kun has just said. But he can guesstimate. Holding out the microphone for the live broadcast, he motions for Haruto to step closer and ignores the knowing look his cameraman is giving him. He checks the time quickly and— yes, they are on! 

He turns to the camera, surreptitiously to check the red recording light before he smiles at it. The TV sports centre anchor would have introduced him already so: “Thank you Takahashi-san! We are here at the Iceberg Palace with our very own representative, Katsuki Yuuri, who has stolen silver today right under everyone’s noses! Katsuki-kun, it was simply amazing to watch your transformation on that ice. You had a rough time yesterday, and pulled out all stops today — five quads! But I personally noticed all those changes when compared to your cleanest program at Skate Canada — what was you mindset going into today? What made you do all those last minute changes?”

Katsuki-kun laughs (and Hisashi nearly drops the mic). “You probably know my track record, but I think— yeah, I can probably can count the number of clean skates I’ve had until this year on one hand. I guess…” he pauses, looking contemplative and serious, “I-I guess I just wanted to put everything behind me when I realized I had to perform in front of everyone again. I had this chance to use what I know and what I’ve learned and — and I just — I couldn’t let everyone down again if I knew I could do better even if I had to change the fabric of reality. Or something,” he laughs again, though he doesn’t look like he wants to.

“Was the skate yesterday the only thing to have motivated you today? Can I ask — what happened?” Hisashi winces since he knows he shouldn’t focus on yesterday’s mistakes when today cleaned the slate. A faux-pas really, considering not a single reporter dares to ask when clearly Katsuki-kun has made a comeback. But Hisashi can’t ever find the filter for his questions and comments when in the presence of Japan’s Ace, especially when he seems to be _talkative today!_

Instead of caustic silence like Hisashi expects, Katsuki-kun brightens. “You’re the first one to ask me about that, actually! And yes, of course you can. I— well, my dog passed away yesterday and I wanted to leave— well, leave the competition or skating or just to see my dog’s body myself at home, I’m still not sure— but I was really not in the right of mind to skate,” he says, casually.

Hisashi is speechless and he’s pretty sure Haruto’s jaw slacked there.

What.

“Yeah, I think I mentioned I had a dog before? Wait, _ah_ have I, _er…_ ever spoken about my dog— he’s a toy poodle and— _ano_ —” Hisashi nods because Katsuki-kun has. Of course he has; there are entire articles dedicated to how much Katsuki-kun loves his toy labradoodle mix-breed and his rare Instagram posts are of either food or poodles, and sometimes his college life or skating practice. But mostly his dog and infopics of how to care for dogs and memes of how poodles are the best dogs and every tsuki agrees wholeheartedly like the obsessive stalker fans they all are.

But back to reality where apparently Japan had been one skate away from losing their mens’ figure skating icon and the world its lone Japanese mens’ singles skater — hell, they still have no idea because the chatter around him reminds Hisashi that they’re not speaking in _English_ and everyone else is _clueless._

“Katsuki-kun,” he manages out with an even, pleasant tone, “several years ago, when you first entered the skating scene, there was actually a video where you’ve mentioned your dog… Vi-chan? — and I believe you had just debuted in the Junior Grand Prix series.” Hisashi has watched skating for years and knows Katsuki-kun. He is one of many skaters inspired by Victor Nikiforov, and Hisashi could see the influences in Katuski-kun’s skating. If that dog _wasn’t_ named after the Russian champion, he’d eat this mic. “I’m sorry for the loss of your companion. May I ask about your plans for the future?”

Hisashi is not going to _touch_ today’s events if yesterday influenced today, but he will get a comment out of Katsuki-kun that _he is not leaving competitions, oh, hell no._ The next Katsuki Yuuri would probably be Minami Kenjirou and Japan is _not ready_ to lose their dignified - if standoffish - _graceful_ cat for an excitable puppy who would skate to weird swing music and mainstream pop songs if it weren’t for the _ban_ on lyrical skating— wait. No. Oh, no. The ban was going to be lifted for all disciplines after the Olympics in two years— they’d already voted in _June—_ oh _no_. 

The Japan’s mens’ skating salvation hums. “I’ve got Nationals as the next competition, then I'll have Four Continents in February to prepare for, and maybe Worlds if I can get in…”

If it were anyone else, Hisashi would be annoyed about the humblebrag, but Katsuki-kun always means his statements, even if they _make no sense_. It makes Hisashi wonder who the heck stomped on the kid’s self-esteem growing up because he will _fight them_ given the chance.

“How about off the ice?” Hisashi smiles, knowing Katsuki-kun doesn’t mind talking about non-skating-related things more. It’s what makes him more likeable apparently, since none of the other reporters seem to get much out of Katsuki-kun.

“Off the ice?”

“Yes, since you’ll be finishing your degree soon? I heard winter break isn’t here yet for your school — it’s finals season right now, correct? And you’ll be flying back to Detroit for your exams—“

…Hisashi pauses. Did he hear that right? He turns to Haruto, who’s blinking like he couldn’t believe it either.

Katsuki-san blushes, but five seconds ago, he looked whiter than what could be healthy and now is probably seconds away from hyperventilating. “I am _so_ sorry, I totally forgot about finals, I need to go, bye, thank you so much for listening to me and sorry about all this and oh fuckfuck _fuck_ —“ he’d inched away slowly as he spoke but Hisashi could still hear him before he dashed completely out of sight, manoeuvring around everyone that had been lying in wait for _their_ interview with the GPF silver medalist.

Haruto is mouthing to him, “—Hisashi? Hisashi! The camera’s still—“

Right! They needed to edit that out before— Wait. Shit. Everything is _live_. “Okay, thank you all for watching with TV Asahi! That was our very own Katsuki Yuuri, Japan’s Ace in mens’ figure skating and now the silver medalist of his first Grand Prix competition!” he pauses and strains a smile as Haruto realizes the gesture to _cut off the signal, we’re done!!!_

* * *

* * *

 

Kenjirou notices Katsuki-senpai rushing out before the Junior Pair bronze medalists run after him with Coach Cialdini in a flurry of apologies.

No one is interviewing _him_. They’re asking Kanako-sensei some questions, which he finds a bit sad because why not ask _him_ about it, but, well, he’s too happy with Katsuki-senpai’s brilliant comeback today to care as he normally would. After all, a silver in the senior mens’ is way more important than a silver in the _junior_ mens’ and Kenjirou is so happy the foreigners are paying more attention to the wonderfulness of Katsuki-senpai.

“Tch. Why’d Renita and Mikel leave so quickly?”

Kenjirou doesn’t scream, but his heart is definitely beating faster than it should ever need to. “Yuri!” It takes him more than a moment to translate it to English. “You scared me!”

Yuri Plisetsky scoffs. “Like that’s hard to do. Well? Why those two fuck off in the middle of their interview?” He looks disinterested as he scrolls through his phone on one hand.

Kenjirou’s pretty sure Yuri (“No kid calls another kid _Mr. Plisetsky,_ what the fuck is wrong with you, Minami, the name’s _Yuri,_ ” and, “Yeah? Well I’m not calling you _Kenjirou_ that’s just— no. I don’t give a rat’s ass, do you think I’m going to call you _Ken_ or something? I’m not calling you anything like a Barbie doll’s boyfriend— _hell_ no. You know what, I’m cutting that outta your name, no one deserves that kind of fate — you’re just gonna be _Jirou_ yeah, that’s— _Hah?_ How the fuck does that make us friends?”) knows exactly what happened to Renita Skjælaaen and Mikel Børjeson of Norway though. He’s not the only one who was staring at the ‘underdog’ GPF silver medalist.

 _“Eto…_ They ran after Katsuki-senpai— _ah —_ Yūri Katsuki of Japan. He ran because of the interview with,” he points over to Morooka-san, “Mr. Morooka the reporter. They were speaking for a long—”

“Yeah, I know _that._ I meant what they were talking about. You probably didn’t notice,” he pointedly gestures at his blond hair and then pinches his free hand’s fingertips together in a claw-shape, “but I’ve got _this_ much Asian blood in me. I speak a bunch of trash languages, but Japanese isn’t one of them. So, what made Yūri Katsuki run off like that?”

Kenjirou bites his lip. Well, it’s already been broadcasted on live television and the translations will be out sooner or later. “Katsuki-senpai’s dog died yesterday, and that is why Katsuki-senpai is so sad and skate bad. Now he is sad and is worrying a lot because he forgot about…” what was the word… what was the word… Kenjirou gestures, expanding his hands out, “final tests! He is in college in Detroit and he forgot about those big tests that… many classes put together at the end of classes?” There. That made sense, hopefully.

“Oh, exams?” Kenjirou nods quickly. He understood English a lot more than he spoke it, and it’s a good think Yuri was able to generally get the gist of what he meant. “Ah, I forgot. The fuck though, while most of the other seniors like that dickwad rinkmate just focus on skating and sponsorships, he’s still in school like us?“

Kenjirou nods emphatically. “Katsuki-senpai is _best!_ Super smart and super cool and— _“_ He pauses. Wait, what is a _dickwad rinkmate…?_

He doesn’t ask though, because Yuri is scowling. It’s not the typical one Kenjirou normally sees on the other boy. He’s frowning and looking _thoughtful_ as he stares blankly at his iPhone screen and it’s a bit strange to be honest. Kenjirou is used to blustering anger and moody huffing, not… whatever this is.

“Are you okay, Yuri?” He quickly glances around him, to see if he can spot Coach Feltsman, but Kenjirou knows it’s a bit futile since Yuri seemed to always avoid his own coach after skating — probably because Yuri always threw in something surprising and unplanned in his programs. Actually… Coach Feltsman may be in the rink still for the Pairs free program if he has students in that category…

“You followed him into competitions, right? Inspired you and all that shit?” Yuri’s turned off his phone, but now fiddles with the gold medal hung around his neck, not quite meeting Kenjirou’s eyes, but _Yuri is keeping the conversation going!_ Wow!

“Yes!” Kenjirou beams, and pauses to collect his thoughts — but oh! It’s Christmas! He can talk about his favourite skater! “Katsuki-senpai before was so _amazing_ when I saw him on TV… maybe… when I was eight years old? I do not remember. But he was a little boy like me compared to all other juniors from China or Russia or Italy and he won _bronze!_ A first timer! He was so small and he still won a Junior medal for Japan in _years!_ No hard jumps but he sets the world record in… in… _PCS_ scores and it was so cool, and he looks like he have so much fun on the ice going _whooosh_ and _spinspinspin_ and _tada!”_

Yuri tilts his head, which probably means he’s listening carefully. Kenjirou wishes he paid more attention in class like his super smart family. Maybe then his English would be as good as everyone else’s, but, well, he’s the athletic duck, the odd jock from a family of workaholic researchers and medical doctors.

“I want to be like Katsuki-senpai one day,” he confesses as he wrings his gloved hands, “and skate with as much _ar-tis-tery_ and _physi-car-ity,”_ he enunciates, “as Katsuki-senpai. He is different than other skaters… he… he _is_ performance,” Kenjirou haltingly says, thinking a bit more, “with a reason for everything he does— like, in the _Lohengrin_ — don’t laugh! That is my _favourite_ one, because even though he broke the record today with _Mariage d’Amour—_ yesterday didn’t show what he could do with it! I got to see him do _so good_ in Miyagi for the NHK Trophy. There is a reason he got gold there! Because he skates with all his  _heart!_ You can not look away from him when he skates like that!“

“O-Oh, thank you Minami-kun. You skated pretty well too. A GPF silver, yes?”

That’s Katsuki-senpai’s glorious voice. _Which is right behind him._

 _!!!_ Kenjirou can’t think. Kenjirou can’t function. Kenjirou’s soul has left his body and his life is a mess and but he can die happy now because _Katsuki-senpai is smiling at him and everything is glittering and that smile is so bright and it’s directed at him._

_At him!_

_!!!_

“ _Eto_ … Minami-kun?”

“Tch, I think you broke him.” A pause, a grumble. “You skated okay out there today.”

“Oh. Um. Thank you. You did too? Er, I mean— Yuri oh, you did— I mean, you’re Yuri Plisetsky right? We haven’t met? Um, I’m Yūri ni—Katsuki. Yūri Katsuki.” A pause. “Good job on both your medals, you two? You both skated really well! I mean. From what I remember… _eto_ …”

Kenjirou pinches himself but nope, _nope! Katsuki-senpai is really there!_

“Katsuki-senpai!” _Oops_ , he thinks, as the other two skaters wince. Sometimes he doesn’t realize the voice he has, but he can hold back in front of his hero! “Katsuki-senpai, oh, thank you so much, you did so good out on the rink too, and I love you— errrr skate. I loved _your skate!_ It was so good and I’m going to skate to Lohengrin one day, you’ll see! I already have a plan! Do you remember me at Miyagi? You walked by me and gave me a handshake! I was so happy and I swear, I wouldn’t have washed my hand but mama told me it was unsanitary and you always wash your hands right? Because mama said you do, so I should too, and that next time I could get you to sign one of my posters—“

Katsuki-senpai held up his hand, and Kenjirou immediately stops to breathe and it doesn’t occur to him for a moment that Katsuki-senpai just used the same signal to stop talking as Kanako-sensei and mama?

“Of course I’ll sign your poster Minami-kun, just find me later with a sharpie, okay?” Katsuki-senpai says _in English_ as he turns eyes to Yuri _—_ oh, oops, he’d lapsed into Japanenglish when he spoke— 

But wait! Katsuki-senpai agreed to sign a poster! _He never signs posters!_ Katsuki-senpai, to date, has never had autographed memorabilia to be sold, fan meet-and-greets, nor any sponsored-associated prizes. _What a time to be alive!_ Wait…

_!!!_

Kenjirou nearly screams when he realizes he didn’t pack his holofoil-bordered limited edition 2010 Winter Olympics YKxJPN Free Skate poster! He swallows the wails of dismay because he can’t make a fool of himself or look uncool in front of Katsuki-senpai, no, he _can’t_. 

…It’s very difficult.

“—left your coach or something?”

“O-Oh, no, I didn’t mean to— I just totally forgot about the date and then forgot about coach and then forgot as I ran off that I didn’t pack any of my textbooks and I’m lucky those two dragged me back since coach told us all to stay here while he’s watching our rinkmates Suzaki-san and Kihara-san…”

“You serious?” Yuri scoffs, crossing his arms, “Tch. Wow. It’s like all you in the senior division are forgetful morons. Still. Uh… It’s kinda rare to be in the same competition… and I… uh…” 

Kenjirou snaps out of his thoughts when he sees a very _interesting_ shade of red on his rival skater. He’s _never_ seen such an expression on Yuri before. But Yuri doesn’t say anything else, just fiddles with his black iPhone and Kenjirou wonders what’s going on and why Yuri’s so red _but not saying anything_ …?

Katsuki-senpai chuckles and he looks so _cool_ as he quirks a smile. “Yeah, it is rare. I haven’t made it to the GPF since I left Juniors,” Katsuki-senpai says, “so maybe— ah… let’s commemorate this? Selfie?” He lifts his phone out of somewhere and—

 _OMG!!!_ Kenjirou has the same iPhone as Katsuki-senpai! Not the same case, but Kenjirou knows Katsuki-senpai is so humble and would never wear a case cover of himself but they _have the same gold iPhone_ …

Wait. 

_Selfie?_

His brain short circuits as Katsuki-senpai lifts his phone and _puts his arms around Kenjirou_ and pulls in Yuri and has his phone outstretched and takes a picture. 

Kenjirou can’t take his eyes off of Katsuki-senpai _who is hugging him OMG_ so he has no idea what face he’s making but _this is the best day of his life!_

* * *

* * *

  

**2012 GPF Junior Gold - FANCAM (Yuri Plisetsky)**

7,392 views

 

Yuriangel Plisetsky

Published on December 9, 2012

 

Comments · 92

Top Comments ˅

 

 **Yuki 10shi**  [5 hours ago]

Yuri and Kenji are sooooo cute ❤️ #BFFs and rivals 4ever amirite?

view all 10 replies ˅

 

 **Redtail Fang** [4 hours ago]

1:27 - Victor Nikiforov

2:09 - Mila Babicheva and Sara Crispino

4:13 - Renita Skjaelaaen and Mikel Borjeson

6:58 - Kenjirou Minami

13:21 - Yuuri Katsuki

Your welcome.

view all 11 replies ˅

 

 **Boba Angelica** [3 hours ago]

Kenji fanboying over Yuuri is meeeeee

view all 7 replies ˅

 

 **Sk8ter Yurix2**   [3 hours ago]

WAIT HOLD ON A SEC IS YUURI SIGNING KENJIROU’S PHONE CASE???

view all 12 replies ˅

   

* * *

* * *

  

[ a selfie with Yuri Plisetsky looking like a deer in headlights and Kenjirou Minami staring at Yuuri Katsuki, whom is the only one that is smiling ]

 **katsuki-y**  Commemorative photo with @minami_ke and @yuri-plisetsky. #GPF #minamikenjiro #yuriplisetsky

_load more comments_

**Yuri+angels10** SO CUTE ❤️❤️❤️ 

 **ca0b1n**  Good photo.

 **phichit+chu**  OMG YUURI YOU POSTED A SELFIE OMG

 

[ a picture of Victor Nikiforov and Christophe Giacometti, side-by-side, arms thrown over each other and grinning at the camera as they hold their medals up ]

 **v-nikiforov**  *first place emoji* *third place emoji* Chris's streak may be broken, but we'll always be #podiumpals · more

_load more comments_

**yurifanforlyfe** better watch it because yuri is gonna take that shiny medal

 **MissNikiforov**  @yurifanforlyfe HA yeah, bronze more like it

 **yuriyuurioryuuu**  @MissNikiforov @yurifanforlyfe I'm actually confused, are we talking about next year where yuri-p is probably gonna debut in seniors or are we talking about worlds with yuuri-k?

 **sk8terboi** @yuriyuurioryuuu it's gonna be hella funny next year #yurivsyuri #battleofthebriansalloveragain

   

* * *

* * *

      

**moonlighthasetsu ⇄ yurikatangelfan**

[ a selfie with Yuri Plisetsky looking like a deer in headlights and Kenjirou Minami staring at Yuuri Katsuki, whom is the only one that is smiling ]

[ a selfie with Yuuri Katsuki smiling with teeth and Kenjirou Minami staring at Yuuri Katsuki, with the selfie-taker being Yuri Plisetsky who is raising his chin in a proud manner ]

[ a selfie with Yuri Plisetsky glaring angrily at Kenjirou Minami who is staring at a smiling Yuuri Katsuki while he takes the crooked photo ]

the holy trinity of selfie pics from instagram: katsuki-y , yuri-plisetsky , and minami_ke

#figureskating #fs #gpf #sochigpf #yuuri katsuki #yuri katsuki #yuri plisetsky #kenjirou minami #socute #yuriyuriandminami

30 notes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if you see typos or weird grammar or whatever. I post once I finish, so this is all spur-of-the-moment.
> 
> Also in regards to this chapter, Tessa and Scott kinda inspired it, not in content, but in the happy feels I’ve had this entire week and a bit. I’m going to miss them, along with Meagan and Eric and Patrick. Excuse my patriotism. My tumblr outlet is just not enough haha.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Will be back... sooner ...or later... since reading break is now over... :(

**Author's Note:**

> NOV 7th 2018 UPDATE:  
> Hey all, thanks for all the kudos and comments! You've been the best ❤️
> 
> While the fic hasn't been updated in a while, I'm aiming to write some in December after the Vancouver 2018 GPF since I'm lucky to be attending!!! Hopefully that'll inspire me as well and prompt me. I've been watching the events leading up to it on TV but I'm swamped with 5 uni courses and work (barista here) so I honestly can't find time to write a lot but I've been jotting down ideas and scenes and all that jazz. This is not dead! Stay tuned and thanks for your patience! 
> 
> Much love, Rayne


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